JANE LEE
Sports Assistant
aThe No.-11 Pepperdine women’s soccer team moved to 1-2-2 in the West Coast Conference and 10-3-3 overall this weekend as they suffered a loss to the University of San Francisco and tied Saint Mary’s College.
In recent events before the weekend, the Waves opened WCC play with a 3-2 victory over Loyola Marymount in double overtime Oct. 9. One week later, the Waves fell to Gonzaga 1-0 but then recorded a 1-1 tie two days later against No.-1 Portland.
On Friday, the Waves were defeated in the last minute of the game when USF forward Chelsea Hunt booted the ball into the net to put the Dons up 2-1 and secure the win at Negoesco Stadium.
“I felt we were a superior team to San Francisco in every aspect except, of course, the score,” Head Coach Tim Ward said. “It is one of those humbling things about this sport, in that you can dominate and lose a game and/or be dominated and win the game.”
The Waves had taken the lead in the first few minutes of the match when senior forward Megan Woods played the ball down the field and junior forward Lindsey Redlin followed through and tapped in the ball at the 2:52 mark.
Woods was credited with her eighth assist of the season while Redlin scored her team-leading ninth goal of the season.
USF evened the score at the 30:17 mark when a cross on a free kick deflected off a Wave defender and into Pepperdine’s goal.
The teams battled throughout the second half, but Hunt’s tie-breaking goal came just before each team prepared to enter overtime.
“The girls played great at USF,” Ward said. “It was really some of our best soccer so far this season.
“It was really unfortunate how their goals came about, just fluky things as both of their goals were deflections off of our players.”
Two days later the Waves scored two goals in the last 10 minutes of the game to come back from a 2-0 deficit against Saint Mary’s and play the Gaels to a 2-2 draw at Saint Mary’s Stadium.
The Gaels took the lead when forward Nikki Schrey kicked the ball in from the right side at the 20:32 mark.
Saint Mary’s continued to pressure the Waves throughout the first half, as the Gaels took nine shots and held the lead in the opening half.
Senior goalkeeper Anna Picarelli recorded four saves in the first half but was replaced by freshman goalkeeper Kayla Stolte in the second half.
Saint Mary’s extended its lead to 2-0 at the 60:15 mark when midfielder Sarah Churchill controlled a throw-in and beat Stolte from 12 yards out.
After being held scoreless by the Gaels defense for 80 minutes, Pepperdine gained momentum when Woods finally put the Waves on the board by driving in the ball from 16 yards inside the left post.
“Megan scored on a brilliant individual effort to get us to 2-1 and then our team sort of had this sense about us that we were going to get another,” Ward said.
Their senses were right, as the score became tied at 2 at the 88:35 mark when Woods assisted the ball to Redlin, who easily scored with an open net after the Gaels’ defense misjudged the ball.
The game was forced into overtime, during which the Waves dominated and out-shot Saint Mary’s 5-2, but it ended in a 2-2 draw.
“We almost won it two or three different times in overtime,” Ward said, “so we are not really excited about our current position in the WCC standings, but we feel this team can achieve a great deal more in the regular season and hopefully in the postseason.”
Despite the 16-13 shot advantage for Saint Mary’s, Pepperdine registered 11 shots on goal in the match, while the Gaels tallied just seven.
The Waves conclude their three-match road trip when they travel to San Diego on Friday with a game time at 5:30 p.m. at Torero Stadium.
“We still have two more WCC matches to go, and we are planning on winning both of those matches,” Ward said. “We think we have the kind of team that on any given day, we can beat anyone in the country.”
10-31-2005
